


Little Miracles

by nerdzeword



Series: Little Miracles [1]
Category: All For The Game - Nora Sakavic
Genre: AU, And Aaron is still a grumpy nerd, Fluff, Gen, In which Andrew gets to actually be a kid, no drake, twinyards, warnings for canon events, wholesome content
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-03
Updated: 2019-04-03
Packaged: 2020-01-01 13:20:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,231
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18335153
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nerdzeword/pseuds/nerdzeword
Summary: When no suitable home appears for a certain Andrew Doe, Officer Higgins decides it's time to take matters into his own hands.





	Little Miracles

**Author's Note:**

> Much thanks to Ayah for beta reading this for me! She's the real MVP.
> 
>  
> 
> This mostly came about because I wanted to capitalize on the fact that the twinyards would be _those twins._
> 
> TW: mentions of rape in the beginning, but nothing graphic.

Phil Higgins had seen a lot of awful things in his time working with kids in the Oakland foster care system. Which was exactly why did it. He could have switched to working a desk job, or working security, but he couldn’t. Not when there were dozens of kids who needed someone in their court. None more so than Andrew Doe. 

“What happened this time Andrew?” He crouched down in front of the boy, who was once again covered in bruises. He had known Andrew since he was first put into the system at only a few days old, and had only kept meeting him. He had hoped that the small boy would be adopted, but the older he got and the more he lashed out, the less likely that was to happen. 

Only Higgins seemed to believe that Andrew had a reason to keep lashing out however. 

“He was hurting her.” Andrew replied quietly, eyes flashing with something close to hatred. Higgins had a feeling he was not going to like Andrew’s story.

“What do you mean by hurting her?” The her he was speaking of was most likely his most recent foster sister, Lisa, age 11. She had been living in the house for six months before Andrew had moved in. Within three weeks, Higgins had gotten a call, stating that they couldn’t keep Andrew any longer, describing him as ‘a feral beast with no manners.’ Higgins knew immediately that something else was amiss, as Andrew had only ever been quiet. Preferring books to the company of other people, and when asked, Lisa said that he was the nicest foster brother she had ever had.

“Every night, I heard her. Through the walls.” Andrew whispered. “She was always crying. Saying ‘stop’. But he never did. He never listened. Why do they never listen?” Higgins now understood why they had had to take the foster father to the hospital to get stitches from where Andrew bit him.

“I don’t know buddy. I really don’t. But I promise, we’re going to get Lisa out of there, and he’ll go to jail where he belongs. Okay?”

“Promise?” Andrew looked up, hopeful, the black eye making him look older than his actual seven years.

“Promise.” Higgins always kept his promises.

 

The next time he saw Andrew was six months later after he picked the boy up when he got into a fight with one of the older foster kids in the home. 

“What happened this time?” Higgins asked as Andrew stared out the window. 

“He was hurting the littles for fun. I warned him to stop, he didn’t.” Andrew shrugged one shoulder. Higgins had noticed the year before that Andrew tended to refer to any of the kids that were younger than him as ‘littles’. He thought he should probably be worried about how fast Andrew seemed to be aging. No eight year old should have to protect anyone from bullies. 

It wasn’t the first time he had thought this. 

“Andrew-” Higgins sighed. Andrew never fought to defend himself, he hadn’t said a word the entire year he had spent as a human punching bag when he was five. It hadn’t been until Higgins had made a surprise check in on the boy, that he had found out about the abuse. Andrew was the first to act whenever someone else was hurt though, the first to insult, the first to strike back or speak up. Higgins couldn’t fault him for wanting to protect others. 

 

Five months and three houses later, Andrew was once again sitting in Higgins’ passenger seat. The more time that passed, the quieter Andrew got, and the less Higgins could pull him out of his own head. Andrew was too protective, too self destructive, to make it much longer in the system. Higgins felt sick at the thought of this little boy following the paths of so many other kids who had decided that they were done trying. 

“Did you finish Harry Potter yet?” He asked, trying to bring back the boy who wouldn’t shut up if you got him talking about Animorphs.

“Yeah.” 

“What did you think?”

“I don’t like Dumbledore.” That was new. But at least he was talking.

“Why not?”

“He just let Harry stay with the Dursley’s even though they were hurting him. And he never even checked to make sure he was okay like you do.” Of course Andrew would have picked up on that. “McGonagall was cool though.”

“She was, wasn’t she?”

“Plus she can turn into a cat. Which is like, the coolest superpower.”

“Turning into a cat is the coolest superpower? Over invisibility or super strength?”

“No one ever suspects the cat.” Andrew told him seriously, now turned to look at him instead of the window. 

“Oh really. But what if whoever you’re spying on doesn’t have a cat?” Andrew shrugged. 

“Then it’s the neighbor’s cat.”

“What if there’s no neighbors?” 

“Who doesn’t have neighbors?”

“People in the country?”

“Then it’s a stray barn cat.” 

“I see. I suppose you know all about those then?” Andrew grins at him, and Higgins suddenly realizes how long it’s been since he’s seen Andrew so much as smile. He’d never been a super happy kid, but he could at least enjoy himself. How long had it been since Andrew had felt comfortable with showing any emotion?

“Of course. I read a book.” Andrew responded cheekily. Higgins laughed. 

 

Higgins had only ever given out his personal cell number to a handful of his charges. Only one of them was still around. So when he got a call from a number he didn’t recognize, he was immediately filled with dread.

“Hello?”

“H-Higgins?” He immediately scrambled to get up and dressed. Andrew never called him by his name.

“Andrew. What’s wrong.”

“H- he said if I said please he would stop. He didn’t stop. I s- said please. I said it so m- many times Higgins- he didn’t listen. Why do they n- never listen?” Higgins was dressed now, grabbing his keys off the table by the door. 

“Okay Andrew I need you to listen to me. Are you somewhere safe?”

“I- I’m in the bathroom. It h-has a lock.”

“Okay. I’m going to put you on hold so I can call someone for backup okay. I’m not leaving the line. Promise. If for some reason I do lose you, you call back immediately, alright?”

“Okay.” Higgins swiped a hand over his face. How much trauma was this kid going to go through? He called for backup and explained the situation quickly before switching back to Andrew. 

“Andrew?”

“Higgins?” Andrew didn’t sound as panicked now.

“Yeah buddy, it’s me. I’m on my way.”

“Higgins, I think he’s trying to open the door.” Or maybe he was. 

“Hey. Hang in there Andrew. I’m almost there. Where is Mercy at? Does she know?”

“Still asleep. She has medication she sometimes takes at night. She won’t wake up until morning.” Higgins wondered if that was prescription or not. He wondered about a lot of things. Most of all, why no one had looked into why these people had fostered five kids before, all of whom had either been abruptly transferred away, or committed suicide. 

He wondered why Andrew had finally called him for help. 

“I’m here Andrew. I’ll be inside in a minute so I’m going to hang up okay.”

“Okay.”

Higgins rang the doorbell. He heard movement from inside and the door opened to reveal Stephen Smalls, who when Higgins had first dropped Andrew off, seemed very friendly and welcoming. Now he looked almost murderous. 

“Stephen Smalls. I’m Phil Higgins with Oakland PD. I’m here to check up on Andrew.” 

“He’s asleep right now.”

“Is that why he was just on the phone with me?” Stephen paled. Higgins’ backup showed up, lights flashing, and Stephen opened the door for them.

Higgins made straight for the bathroom, where he rapped quietly on the door. 

“Hey Andrew. It’s me, Higgins. You okay there buddy?”

“No.” Andrew’s voice was muffled through the door.

“No, I can’t imagine you are. Do you want to stay in there a bit longer? Or do you want to go?” Andrew was silent for a moment.

“Stay. It hurts Higgins.” 

“I know buddy. I know. Do you want me to come in with you or stay out here?” Another moment of silence then the door unlocked.

“Come in.” Higgins opened the door and found Andrew sitting in the corner of the bathtub, arms wrapped around his knees. Higgins sat on the floor beside the tub. 

“Hey bud. How do you feel about staying with me?” It was something Higgins had been thinking about for months. How could he help this little boy who didn’t know how to help himself? He’d thought that he’d eventually find a place where Andrew could flourish, and it wasn’t like he knew much about trying to raise a kid, but that hadn’t been happening, and after this, Higgins knew as well as Andrew did, that that magical ‘better place’ probably didn’t exist.

“Are there no more homes open?”

“This wouldn’t be temporary buddy.” Andrew finally looked up.

“You mean-”

“I’d adopt you, yeah.” Andrew eyed him cautiously

“What’s the catch?” two years ago, Andrew wouldn’t have even hesitated. Higgins wondered if he could ever be a normal boy again. He wanted to say there was no catch, because there wasn’t. If anything, this had been a long time coming. But he also knew that after everything he’d been though, Andrew liked to know he had some sort of control over his life. He dealt in trades and exchanges. Promises that were never forgiven if broken.

“Well, if you come, you can’t complain about all the pizza and takeout we’ll be eating. And you’ll have to do you fair share of the chores.” Higgins told him seriously

“You never learn how to cook, Pig?” Andrew said, he wasn’t smiling, not yet, but Higgins thought that maybe one day he would again, and that was what mattered.

“Hey, I’m a very busy guy!” he responded with a smirk of his own. He stood up and held out a hand. “You ready to go home Andrew?” He nodded and took the offered hand.

 

Living with Andrew wasn’t all that different than living with a particularly prickly cat. He didn’t talk much, or make any noise at all really. He startled at the slightest noise, glared at you if you interrupted whatever he was doing, and pretended not to care while simultaneously craving attention. Higgins thought he might have been the best decision of his life. The cat however, he was less sure about. 

“He needs a home too.” Andrew had said stubbornly, holding the beaten up cat up for inspection. It was not particularly friendly looking, with short, patchy fur, and missing an eye. But Higgins couldn’t exactly argue with that logic, considering he had just taken in a stray of his own, not three months before. 

“Alright. If you take care of him, you can keep him.”

“Yes.” Andrew agreed immediately. 

“Okay then. First we have to take him to the vet. Make sure he doesn’t have rabies or something.” Andrew rolled his eyes at that. 

“He doesn’t have  _ rabies _ . I read that you can usually tell if an animal has rabies based on-” Higgins stopped listening, mostly just excited that Andrew was speaking in more than one word sentences again. 

In retrospect, he probably should have known that the cat would be a good idea. Andrew had always thrived when he had something to protect. Eventually, he would have to see if he could get Andrew into therapy, help him work through his self destructive habits. But for now, for now he would take every little miracle he could get. 

 

It was nearly a year before Andrew felt comfortable enough with Higgins to take him up on his offer of self defense classes. Higgins himself knew a lot, by very nature of his job, but he had a feeling that once he started, Andrew would want to learn everything. Which was where Travis McCarthy came in. 

Travis had been at the police academy with him, but had dropped out halfway through to become a boxer. He had also dabbled in a bit of mixed martial arts, and weapons. Higgins called him up and asked if he could possibly take on a student. To which he was more than happy to oblige. 

Andrew was a fast learner. He remembered instructions to the word, and was just tenacious enough to keep practicing something until he had it perfect. It was only a month of classes before Higgins came to the startling revelation that Andrew probably had an eidetic memory of some sort. Which would explain the nightmares he still got on a frequent basis. He couldn’t even imagine how Andrew had gotten so far, knowing that he would always be able to perfectly recall every second of the abuse he had suffered. 

Andrew never said anything about it however, so Higgins resolved to only bring it up if it became a real problem. Within a few months, Andrew’s lessons turned into little more than sparring sessions, and Travis had started to pit him against some of his other students in the ring. With every session that passed, the hard look in Andrew’s eyes faded just a bit more, and Higgins felt like he was finally getting to see Andrew be a little boy again. 

  
  


Just shy of Andrew’s twelfth birthday, Higgins was dropping off paperwork to the San Jose police department, an unfortunate side effect of working with the foster care system, when he drove past a bus stop and noticed Andrew sitting on the curb. Except it couldn’t be Andrew, as he had just dropped his de facto son off at school, and there was no reason for Andrew to be in San Jose of all places. He pulled up to the curb, wondering if maybe this boy was potentially a younger brother. 

“Hey there.” He called out to the boy, who looked up. Or make that a twin, with the exception of the shadows around his eyes, that mirrored the ones that Andrew had worn for most of his life, this boy was identical to his own son. Higgins found himself inadvertently talking to him the way he would Andrew as well. “Is there any particular reason you’re not in school right now?”

“I missed the bus, and my mom already left for work.” The response was forced, practiced. Very much a lie, assuming this kid had the same tells as Andrew. 

“Well then, would you like a ride to school? You can’t get an education sitting on the curb.” The kid looked like he was ready to bolt for a second before finally nodding. Higgins reached across and opened the passenger door for him. 

“What’s your name kid?”

“Aaron.” He said quietly. “Aaron Minyard.” 

“Alright Aaron, where are we headed?” he answered quietly and Higgins started heading in that direction without comment. How long had Aaron lived so close? Suddenly the trip around the bay seemed like forever instead of just an hour and a half.

“So, what grade are you in?” He asked, Aaron looked up at him with the corner of his eye, the way Andrew used to. 

“Sixth.” 

“Funny, my son is in sixth grade. Do you have a favorite class?”

“I like science.” 

“Anything specific?” He prompted, having learned over the years how to get disgruntled and mistrustful kids to talk. If it had worked on Andrew, it had to work on this kid too right? Aaron shrugged.

“I like learning about people. Bones and stuff.”

“Oh that is cool! My son hates science, says it’s boring.” Aaron’s head turned to face him in alarm. 

“He doesn’t like science?” Higgins shook his head mournfully.

“Nope. He says it’s all boring memorization. He is okay with Math though. I’ll never understand that kid.” Actually, Higgins knew exactly why Andrew found science boring but math interesting. His eidetic memory made middle school science easy, since it was all memorizing formulas or bones, which came effortlessly to him. Math and Lit were more interesting, because they made him actually think. If he could only pretend to care his way through tests, Andrew would have incredredible grades. 

“Well, it is a lot of memorization. But it’s interesting. I like knowing where things go and what they’re supposed to do.” Now that he was talking, it was hard to imagine him being similar to Andrew at all, their personalities were so different. Aaron seemed to crave order, whereas Andrew thrived on chaos. He wondered how they would get along.

Higgins pulled up to Aaron’s school, but stopped Aaron as he went to get out of the car. 

“Hey kid.” He handed him his personal cell number. “If you ever need a ride again, this is my personal number. You’re a bright kid, it’d be a shame for you to miss out because you can’t get to school.” Aaron just nodded and turned away.

  
  


It was a good thing that Andrew never did any sort of extracurriculars, as he finally got a call from Aaron on a dark December afternoon. 

“Hello. Officer? This is Aaron. Minyard. Aaron Minyard.”

“Hello Aaron. How can I help you?”

“I. I um. I need a ride from school. My mom is still at work, and normally I take the bus, but I have a super big group project that I absolutely  _ have  _ to work on, so we’re staying after school, but I don’t-” 

“That’s fine. I was just picked up Andrew from school so it shouldn’t be a problem. What time will you be done with your project?” Higgins wondered why he couldn’t just ask someone else in his class for a ride.

“Um. 4:30 please. Thanks.”

“Alright then Aaron. I’ll be there at 4:30.” Andrew stared at him questioningly. He never had lost that look of suspicion whenever anyone but him instigated a change of plans.

“Who was that?”

“A kid we’re going to help out.” Andrew continued to look suspicious. 

“Why does he need help?” 

“I’d like to know the same thing kiddo.” He perked up at that. Andrew was all about solving puzzles and mysteries. And people, not that Higgins tried to encourage that one. He was less enthused about the hour and a half drive to San Jose. Higgins rolled the window down when he got to the school, where Aaron was sitting on the curb. 

“Aaron. Hop in the back.” He called out the window. Aaron looked up and immediately froze in shock. Andrew didn’t look much better, immediately turning to glare at Higgins for not warning him. Aaron was still staring. 

“Hop in kid, you’re not going to get home by just sitting there.” Aaron shut his mouth and stood up, covering a wince as he climbed in the back. Andrew immediately turned around to stare at him more. 

“Why do you look like me?” Andrew demanded as soon as Aaron was buckled. 

“Andrew! You can’t just ask that!” he was ignored as per the usual.

“Why do  _ you _ look like  _ me?”  _ Aaron responded. The two boys participated in a stare off for a solid minute before Andrew offered Aaron the bag of M&M’s Higgins had forgotten to hide the night before. Not that it would have mattered anyway, Andrew was like a bloodhound when it came to chocolate. Which was why it was surprising when he just gave some away like that. 

“Thanks.” Aaron said quietly, taking a handful of the chocolates. Andrew just nodded. Higgins was a bit baffled by the exchange, but he wasn’t going to question it. Andrew so rarely got along with people. Aaron gave him quiet instructions to his house, which was unsurprisingly close to the bus stop where he had originally met Aaron.

“Here you go kid.” He motioned for andrew to open the back door so Aaron could get out. “You’re always welcome to join us Aaron, keep that in mind.”  he nodded.

“I will. Thanks.” As soon as he had made it through the front gate, Andrew turned to Higgins. 

“Someone is hurting him.”

“I know kid.”

“We have to get him out.”

“I know kid.”

“Do you think he’s in the system too? Are we related?”

“I don’t know Andrew, but I will look into it as soon as I get to the precinct tomorrow.”

“Promise?”

“Promise.”

  
  


It took three days of careful search, and Andrew’s nagging to finally figure out how Andrew and Aaron were connected. Higgins had a sinking feeling he knew exactly who Aaron’s abuser was, as soon as he read about Tilda Minyard. He couldn’t personally fathom splitting up your twins in the first place, let alone giving them both up, just to change your mind and only take one. He couldn’t even consider giving up Andrew. Not now that he was finally safe. He owed it to both boys however, to investigate Tilda before he did something rash. So he and a partner paid Tilda Minyard a visit a few days before Christmas Break, while Aaron was in school.

There was no doubt in his mind upon her opening the door, that Tilda Minyard was the boys’ mother. She had the same straight nose, short stature, and Hazel eyes as her boys. 

“Tilda Minyard? My name is Officer Higgins. I’m here to talk to you about your sons.”

“I only have one kid.” She snapped back at him. He smiled thinly at her.

“I have it on good authority that you gave birth to twins.”

“Oh. That one. Come in I suppose. Excuse the mess, my brat never cleans the house.” Higgins had to force himself not to react to the callous way she referred to Andrew, or the dismissive, and from what he knew of Aaron, false, jab at her own son. Tilda led them to the living room, where she sat down and pulled out a pack of cigarettes, lighting one in a practiced motion. Higgins cast a careful eye around the room, it was messy, and held no signs of hosting a twelve year old boy, but nothing seemed too out of place so far. 

“So why are you here?” She demanded after a long drag. 

“We’re here because we have just recently found your son Andrew, and were wondering, if he agrees, if you would like to meet him. Or would allow Aaron to meet him.”

“If the brat wants to meet Aaron, fine. But I don’t want anything to do with him. One brat is enough for me.” Higgins nodded in agreement. He didn’t particularly want Andrew around this woman either.

“Where is your restroom if I may?”

“Down the hall to the left.”

Higgins wandered down the hall towards the bathroom, but stopped when he caught sight of what had to have been Aaron’s room. It was cleaner than the rest of the house combined, all of his school books stacked neatly on the shelf in the corner, and a poster of the human muscular system on the wall above the bed. He knew she had been lying about Aaron not cleaning.

Higgins continued into the bathroom, and was alarmed to see the sink covered in syringes and other drug paraphernalia. He snapped a picture of it all with his phone and left the bathroom. He needed to talk to Aaron before he did anything else. 

  
  


Two days later he had arranged with Tilda via phone for Aaron to stay the weekend with  Higgins and Andrew. Andrew flited between his impassive mask, and being noticeably excited to hang out with his twin brother. And had Higgins not known how much of it was concern for Aaron’s safety, he would have been amused.

As it was, when he pulled up in front of Aaron’s school, both of them were close to being nervous wrecks. Higgins noticed the minute Andrew caught sight of his twin, because he immediately tensed up. Higgins thought it may have been the nerves making an appearance, until he too caught sight of the boy. Aaron was limping again.

None of them said anything other than Aaron’s murmured ‘thanks’ at Andrew’s offered candy, until they had reached home. 

When they were inside and the door firmly shut, Andrew turned on Aaron and crossed his arms.

“Show me.” He demanded. Aaron glared back at him for a moment before rolling up his sleeves to reveal a collection of mottled bruises. Higgins sighed and pulled the first aid kit out of the cupboard. When he returned, Andrew had wrestled Aaron out of his shirt completely.

“How often does this happen?” He asked as he observed the rainbow of bruises Aaron had across his stomach. 

“Once, twice a week? More if she’s been drinking.” Andrew looked practically livid. Higgins knew he was going to have to do damage control, and fast. He pulled out the bandages.

“Can I wrap that? We don’t want to risk anything moving if you cracked a rib.” Aaron looked puzzled by the question but nodded anyway. Higgins sometimes forgot that Andrew was an outlier, and not everyone needed verbal consent for any sort of touch. 

“Well, the way I see it Aaron, you have two choices.” He spoke as he wrapped, trusting that Andrew would hold his temper until Aaron had had the chance to answer. “I can turn your mom in for child abuse and negligence, meaning she will almost certainly serve jail time, however I can probably ensure she gets clean and that you can visit her regularly. Or we can leave things as is, and we wait to see if she either gets better on her own, or spirals further until she, and by extension you, can never go back.” 

Andrew stayed silent, obviously unhappy, but unwilling to try and sway Aaron’s choice.  

“C-can I think about it?” 

“Of course.”

  
  


By the end of the weekend, Aaron had come to the conclusion that his mother would probably better off in prison, and him by extension. Andrew seemed a bit happier with the outcome, but he made Higgins promise that he wouldn’t let Aaron go back to her, even if she got out. Which meant he would have to start filing for custody of Aaron as well, as he had a feeling that Andrew would find him being placed in the system an equally terrible solution. Not that he would have let that happen, even had Andrew not cared.

Having that sorted however, Andrew and Aaron were getting along better than he had ever expected from a couple of boys who had issues trusting other people. If anything though, their cooperation was going to give Higgins an aneurysm. 

“Andrew,” He called up the stairs. “How many times have I told you to put your shoes in your room?” 

“They’re the doppleganger’s!” Was the only response he received. 

“Andrew. I bought your shoes, I know what they look like. Come put them in your room.” There was a garbled moan of annoyance and a mocking laugh, that was probably from Aaron, before Andrew stomped his way down the stairs to scowl at Higgins. 

“You two can try the twin thing on other people, but I have known you too long not to notice when you’re trying to pull one over on me.”

“So if we were to switch schools for the day…”

“Don’t make a habit of it, tell me when you do it so I know which of you is the one actually wreaking havoc, and if you get caught, you’re done.” Andrew gave him his usual two fingered salute and bounded back up the stairs, shoes in hand, presumably to tell Aaron. Higgins would probably regret that decision later, but it was a small price to pay to not have the two trying to confuse him all the time. Despite what he had told Andrew, he had a feeling that should the boys put any actual effort into it, he really wouldn’t be able to tell them apart. At least not yet.

 

Because San Jose was technically out of Higgins’ jurisdiction, he was unable to pull the same strings he had with Andrew in order to get Aaron placed with him immediately. Which meant he went into a group home temporarily until they could get him placed with them permanently. Andrew was less than pleased with the situation, knowing perfectly well what group homes were like, and insisted that they go to San Jose and get him out of the home whenever possible. 

It was only because it was Christmas break and neither boy had school they were missing, that Higgins allowed the boys to drag him into trips to San Francisco and the beach. It became apparent within a few days of these trips that there was more going on than they had thought. Aaron was sullen and moody, and would break into fever and nausea at random. 

“Withdrawal.” Higgins came to the most obvious conclusion, suddenly livid that Tilda had not only been an addict herself, but had also allowed her son to become one as well. From what he and Andrew had gathered, Tilda had given him drugs when he was small to keep him quiet, and had continued to let him into her stash of Xanax as he had gotten older. 

“What are we going to do?” Andrew asked, watching Aaron throw up in their toilet yet again. 

“We get him help buddy.” Andrew was not happy that ‘getting help’ meant checking him into a rehab center for six weeks, where he wasn’t allowed any visitors, until all traces of the drugs were gone from his system.  But, as Higgins had pointed out, at least he wasn’t in the group home any longer.

When Aaron finally came back, Andrew had cleared out half of his bedroom for the other boy, and he and Higgins had made the trip to Emeryville to buy Aaron some new furniture from Ikea. Andrew had even tracked down a poster of the skeletal system to put up next to Aaron’s poster of the muscular system. 

Aaron went back to school almost immediately after his release, so Higgins and Andrew couldn’t take him out as often as they had before, but the boys had counteracted this by finally making good on Higgins’ offer to let them play the twin game. 

 

To his surprise and relief, Higgins had next to no trouble convincing the court to give him custody of Aaron. He had a feeling it was solely because he had adopted Andrew, and the court hated splitting family members. (Something Higgins wholeheartedly agreed with.) So within a few weeks, Aaron had taken over his half of Andrew’s bedroom, and had doubled the number of books in the living room at any given point in time. 

By the time summer came around, Andrew and Aaron had found themselves a sort of equilibrium and alternated between driving each other insane, in what Higgins hoped was a typical brotherly fashion, and combining forces to drive him insane instead.

“That’s it. Both of you go outside. Run, throw balls at each other, I really don’t care. But don’t come back until dinner.” He pointed to the door, and both boys rolled their eyes, but followed his instructions. When they returned, they were both covered in bruises, and panting heavily. But Aaron was sporting a large grin, and Andrew wasn’t scowling, which meant that they had both had fun.

“So what did you guys get up to?”

“We played Exy with the kids down the street. It wasn’t a real game because there’s no walls or ceiling to bounce the ball off of, and the goal was just a couple of sticks, but it was awesome!” Aaron chattered. Higgins had never seen a game of Exy, but one of his coworkers liked the sport, so he knew a bit about it.

“Oh? What position did you guys play?”

“Goalie.” Andrew said, trying to look bored, but not quite making it.

“Andrew was  _ amazing  _ at goalie. He barely even tried and caught almost all of them. I played backliner, mostly because one of the boys said I couldn’t because I was too small. I knocked him over.” He looked pleased with himself, and Higgins tried not to worry about whether or not he would be getting a call from a disgruntled parent later.

“Did you boys have fun then?”

“Yes!”

“It was alright.” Which meant that they would absolutely go back and play with the neighbor kids throughout the summer, (and be out of his hair while he was working) with the added bonus of them getting at least a little bit of exercise, which they had not been doing since he had bought them the Nintendo 64 as a late Christmas present. 

  
  


When Higgins had had Tilda arrested, it had never even occurred to him that she might not inform her brother of the arrest. Or even that Tilda would have any family whatsoever, since Aaron had never spoken of any. So it came as a shock when he got a call from Luther Hemmick, inquiring as to where his nephew was and stating that he would be taking him in, as his next of kin. 

Higgins was not all that impressed with Luther Hemmick, considering that he had had no idea that Tilda had been abusing Aaron, and it had taken him almost nine months to realize that his sister had been incarcerated. 

After discussing it with the boys, they decided that they would let their uncle come visit if he wanted, but seeing as Andrew was adopted, and the two did not particularly want to be split up again, they wouldn’t entertain any notions of Luther trying to take Aaron away. Higgins had a feeling that Aaron didn’t care for his uncle all that much either.

It was two weeks into August before the Hemmick family arrived. The boys cleaned the house, or at least Aaron cleaned the house, Andrew sat on the couch and occasionally yelled encouragement while he read a book. Higgins had a feeling that the only reason he got away with this was because Aaron knew that Andrew would be far more annoying if forced to work. He wondered if he should try and to something to curb Andrew’s pettiness, but opted to think about it when they didn’t have guests. 

Higgins had never realized just how many books the boys had accumulated until Aaron had tried to put them all on the bookshelf and ended up having to make several stacks on the floor instead. 

The doorbell rang, and Andrew went to open it, no doubt pretending to be Aaron as he did so. Higgins wondered idly if they would try to hug him, and if Andrew would let them in the name of their game. 

Aaron was still trying to put a book back in its spot on one of the higher shelves as he wandered back into the living room. Higgins took the book from him and placed it on the shelf, earning himself a scowl from the boy, who didn’t like to be reminded of how small he was. 

Higgins shoved him in the direction of the door. 

“Go make sure your brother hasn’t tried to stab anyone yet. Also, I  _ may  _ have forgotten to tell them about Andrew.” Aaron grinned widely and bounded off to find his brother, and wreak a little chaos. 

  
  


The Hemmicks stayed three days, but it only took until the end of the first day for Higgins to come to the conclusion that they would really rather not have a twelve year old abuse victim underfoot anyway. Let alone two of them. The boys had been dragged off to play exy by the neighbor kids within a couple hours of the Hemmicks arrival on the first day, and they had happily dragged Nicky away to go play, while Higgins had been left to entertain Luther and Maria. The things he did for those boys. 

By the end of the three days, he was thoroughly sick of Luther’s constant preaching, and it was only the presence of a bible sitting on the top of one of Aaron’s stacks that saved them from the brunt of it. Higgins was pretty sure it was only there because Andrew wanted to be able to quote large portions of it to bigots. 

Thankfully, since the boys were out playing exy for most of the time, Andrew never had the chance to use his eidetic memory to wreak havoc on his family.

  
  


“Pig?” Andrew climbed onto the end of Higgins’ bed and sat cross legged while he waited for Higgins to respond.

“Yes?”

“How would you feel if I were, like, gay?”

“What makes you think something like that would change how I feel?” Andrew shrugged, but Higgins could tell he was relieved. 

“Aaron says his- our- uncle Luther thinks that all gay people are going to hell or something, or they’re like, infected. Which is why he sent our cousin Nicky to that camp last summer. To fix him. But you always said that you can’t fix other people, you can only fix your own attitude. And anyway Aaron says that Nicky was really nice and happy and stuff before he went, but now he’s just sad-”

“Andrew. Are you worried about Nicky?” Higgins wasn’t sure if he could adopt a sad teenager from across the country, it was a bit out of his jurisdiction. Nicky’s story did give him chills though, and he made a mental note to have one of his old colleagues from the area look into it. 

“No. Well, maybe a little. Aaron says he’s bigger and older than us, so he should be fine though right?”

“Sure kid.”

“I was more asking because… I think I might be gay.”

“Alright. Did you tell Aaron already?” Andrew wrinkled his nose. 

“Yeah, but I don’t think he likes it that much. He said he won’t say anything though.”

“Give him some time buddy, he’s had a lot of changes happen to him really fast.”

“This isn’t even a change to him!” Andrew complained.

“How long did it take you to get out of the habit of sleeping with your back to the wall?” Higgins recalled a particularly big meltdown six months after Andrew had moved in, when they had gone to visit his parents and the bed was in the center of the room.

“A year.” Andrew admitted with a small pout. 

“Habits take a long time to break kiddo. And Aaron has a lot of habits.”

“Him not liking that I’m gay is a habit?” Higgins noticed that he didn’t bother with the maybe that time. Which meant Andrew already knew for certain that he was gay, and was just testing him. The little sneak.

“Think of it this way, if I kept telling you that all racecar drivers are mean, and you had never met one, you’re going to believe me right?” Andrew nodded, uncertain. “But what if you met a racecar driver one day, and he ends up being really really nice?” Andrew thought about it for a moment.

“I would think that maybe only most racecar drivers are mean, and just this one is nice. Or that you’re lying, and all of them are actually nice.”

“But every time you meet this driver, your immediate response is to think that he’s mean, even though he’s nice. Because thinking racecar drivers are mean has become a habit.”

“Your analogy makes no sense, but I think I understand.”

“The point is, your Uncle Luther has been telling him that gay people are bad, and cursed for so long that it’s automatic for him to think that. But he knows you Andrew, and he knows Nicky, and he knows that neither of you are bad, or cursed, and he has to break the habit.”

“You can only fix your own attitude.” Andrew quipped back at him. 

“Exactly. So it’s Aaron’s job to break his bad habits, and it’s your job to help him by being understanding when he messes up sometimes okay?” Andrew gave him a stiff salute and slid off the bed, most likely to find whatever book he’d been reading. Higgins let out a breath. Being a dad was exhausting sometimes.

  
  


The boys had wanted to continue to go to seperate schools for the next school year, and since neither of them had friends in their classes, Higgins was forced to assume it was for ease of playing their twin game. 

“No.” 

“But Pig!”

“ _ No.” _

“Come onnnnnnn.”

“I am not driving you to separate schools just so you can pull one over on your teachers easier.”

“They haven't caught us yet.” Andrew pointed out helpfully. He had taken to sitting in the old wingback chair with his old cat on his lap. Aaron had theorized the week before that Andrew thought it made him look more imposing. Neither of them were willing to confirm the theory.

“Like that's an accomplishment, most of your teachers don't even know that you're twins. You can continue your game at one school, or not at all.” The boys looked at one another.

“We have different last names.” Aaron pointed out. “We could pretend to have never met before.” Andrew seemed to ponder this. 

“Fine.” He conceded finally. “One school.”

  
  


The start of the summer before the boys were set to start high school, Higgins got a call from the boys’ cousin Nicky, who the twins had been emailing back and forth with since his last visit. He had just gotten home from Germany, where he planned on returning as soon as he had the money, and was planning on coming out to his parents. He had a feeling they would not take it well and asked if he could come visit the boys in the few weeks between his graduation and his flight back to Germany.

Higgins told him absolutely yes, and if he arrived soon enough, he would take him to San Francisco Pride with the boys. As soon as Nicky arrived, barely holding himself together after his parents’ painful rejection, Higgins had helped him reschedule his flight to leave from San Francisco so he wouldn’t have to return to Columbia again. 

After a few initial run ins with Andrew’s strict boundaries, Nicky slid into their little family with ease, teasing the boys relentlessly, and generally just being too cheerful for his more serious cousins’ sanity. The boys never once complained about him though, only dragging him with them to all of their neighborhood exy matches, and using his status as a legal adult to bypass Higgins’ rule that they have an adult with them when they took jaunts into San Francisco. They all remembered what Nicky was like the last time he’d been there, and none of them ever wanted to see him like that again. 

Nicky told them all about Germany and tried to teach them German, which Andrew predictably caught onto faster than Aaron. Higgins thought he might know more about Nicky’s boyfriend than he knew about Nicky himself. 

By the time Nicky had left again, both boys were sad to see him go, as much as Andrew pretended he didn’t actually care. And when it was time to choose their classes for high school, both boys chose to take German as their foreign language. 

  
  


Higgins had known since the first week of the boys’ neighborhood exy games that they would end up joining their high school team. He just didn’t expect them to be so  _ good.  _ He supposed he should have seen it coming, Aaron didn’t dish out praise to just anyone, including (or especially) his own brother. 

The two worked seamlessly on the court from what Higgins could tell with how little he knew of the sport. It was impressive, especially considering that Andrew looked bored out of his mind for most of it. He was even more surprised when he realized that they were the only two freshmen to make the team. 

“Hey kid.” He greeted Aaron with a high five when he came off the court. He greeted Andrew with a fist bump when he appeared a moment later. “I don’t know anything about exy, but you two looked awesome out there.” Aaron obviously preened at the compliment, and Andrew gave him a half smile, which was about as excited as Andrew got about anything these days. 

  
  


The inevitable finally happened in the boys’ sophomore year. Higgins got a call from the school on a sunny October afternoon, stating that the boys had switched places in one of their classes.

It turned out, the only reason they were caught was because one of Andrew's teachers was subbing for one of Aaron's later classes and recognized Andrew's outfit. Higgins wondered how long it would take the boys to come to the conclusion that they just needed to wear the same clothes. 

It apparently took until the end of the day. 

“Hey Pig, Aaron and I need new jackets.” Andrew said without preamble as he clambered into the car.

“Oh?”

“Matching ones.” Aaron supplied helpfully. 

“What was the rule boys?” Andrew sighed

“Only until we got caught.” He crossed his arms and looked put out. 

“How many people still believe you're not related?” Higgins asked about their other ongoing con.

“Well, after that, none of the teachers do, because everyone knows they're huge gossips, and Weatherby wasn't subtle about only calling one parent.”

“Most suspect, but no one can confirm or deny our relationship.” Aaron confirmed. 

“Well, there you go.” Both boys made a face, but didn't protest further.

  
  


Tilda had been out of prison for three months when he got the call. 

“Aaron.” He said softly, knocking on the door to the boys’ bedroom. Andrew was on the couch reading a book with the cat, pretending that he didn’t care. For all Higgins knew, he might not. Andrew had very little patience for abusers. Especially for those who abused  _ his  _ people.

“What.”

“Just checking to see how you’re holding up.”

“Why?” Aaron replied bitterly. “You and Andrew never liked her anyway. You’re probably glad she’s gone.” Higgins sat down on the other side of the bed, with his back against the wall. 

“No. You’re right, I never did like her, and I’m pretty sure Andrew hated her guts. But that doesn’t matter. Because you loved her.” Aaron curled further into himself, once again looking like he was trying not to cry.

“Yeah.”

“Aaron. Look at me.” Aaron glanced up, looking at Higgins from the corner of his eye. “It’s okay to miss her. You can miss your mom. I’m not going to judge you for it. Andrew isn’t going to judge you for it-” 

“Yes he will.”

“If you think that, you obviously don’t know your brother as well as you think you do kiddo. Andrew may not understand why you still love your mom. He never loved any of his abusers. But he’s not going to judge you for it.” Aaron finally broke and started crying.

“She was supposed to be better. She was supposed to come back and celebrate our birthday, and come to our Exy games and be  _ better.”  _ Higgins held out a hand in invitation, which Aaron took with only a moment’s hesitation. He always had been more open to touch than Andrew. Higgins pulled Aaron into his lap and wrapped his arms around the boy, who just continued to sob. 

“D- did she not l- love me, Dad? Was that w- why she always hurt me? Why s-she didn’t even try to get b- better?” That was the first time either of the boys had ever called him dad. The knowledge only made him more upset at the circumstances. 

“I don’t think we’ll ever know why your mom did what she did. I can’t tell you what her feelings were, or weren’t. But I can tell you that you don’t have to miss her by yourself alright? You’re never going to have to take anything alone again. Know why?”

“W-why.”

“Because you have me. You have Andrew. You have that horrific monster he calls a cat. You have Nicky and Erik, and none of us are ever going to let you deal with bad things alone.”

“We promised remember.” Andrew said, Higgins wondered how long he had been standing in the doorway. He watched them for a moment longer, before crawling into Aaron’s bed beside them and laying his head on Higgins’ shoulder, his fingers tangling with Aaron’s in his lap. 

  
  


Over the years, Higgins had rather given up trying to get the boys to put any real effort into their classes. Both were way smarter than he could keep up with, but that just meant that they tended to get bored in class. They also had the added problem that they both hated having any sort of attention on them, which impeded their willingness to answer questions in class. Higgins knew all of this about his boys, but he never thought he’d see the day where he’d have to try and explain it to someone else. 

“They don’t participate in class Mr. Higgins.”

“They both have straight A’s. I bet you Andrew could tell you the entire plot of To Kill a Mockingbird as well as its ramifications on society if you were to ask him right now. And I know for a fact that Aaron can name every single bone in the body and most of the muscles.”

“I’m just worried that they aren’t building the social skills they’ll need when they’re older. They rarely speak to anyone outside of class, and barely participate in group projects.” Higgins sighed. He had been worried about Andrew not having any social skills since he was nine years old, but after adopting Aaron and seeing the two interact? He could understand why Andrew didn’t get along with anyone at school. They’d seen so much pain as children, that normal teenage issues must seem so trivial to them. 

“They are building all the social skills they need just fine. They both play Exy, which is a team sport in case you’ve forgotten, and they have an entire team of friends from the neighborhood that they’ve played Exy with since they were twelve. They are doing  _ fine.  _ And any efforts you make to try and make them speak more in class are only going to drive them further back into their shells.” 

“I just think-” 

“With all due respect, I have been their father for a hell of a lot longer than you have been their principal. I know my sons. And if you push them, you will not like how they react. Did you have any other questions?” The principal just shook his head with a sigh. 

“Alright then.” Higgins stood up “I’ll just see myself out then.” He opened the door and ignored the scramble of the two boys who were pretending that they hadn’t just been eavesdropping. “Come on kids. What do we want for dinner?”

“Pancakes.” Came Andrew’s predictable reply, which derailed into squabbling over what was and was not considered dinner. 

  
  


The boys had a list of rules, ongoing agreements, and trades that Higgins had only scratched the surface of. He never once considered that monitoring who the other was allowed to date was one of those agreements. 

“You want to what?”

“We want to make a new deal. For the twin game.” Andrew replied seriously.

“Yes I understood that part, what I don’t understand is why?” The boys were both sitting on the end of his bed, where until five minutes before, he had been reading a mystery novel that Andrew had left lying out. 

“Before you called the twin game off last year, we made a deal, if we ever wanted to date someone, we had to test them by switching places and seeing if they noticed.” Aaron explained. 

“If they’re worth our time, they’ll obviously be able to tell us apart.” Andrew added

“But since we can’t do the twin game anymore, we need to make a new deal.” Higgins supposed he should probably be grateful that the two were actually asking him to renew their deal, instead of going behind his back. He thought about it a moment. 

“Alright I agree. You can switch places as much as you want as long as you are not on school grounds, and if something goes wrong because of the switching, you both have to deal with the fallout yourselves.” Both boys nodded in agreement. “In exchange, I want you both to talk to my friend Betsy. You only have to speak to her once if you so choose, though I would prefer if you would make it a regular thing, but I want you to talk to her. And I mean actually speak with her Aaron.” the boys looked at one another before nodding in agreement again. 

 

“Hey Phil.” Higgins smiled at his friend through the phone. 

“Hey Bets.”

“Those are some good boys you have there.”

“Yeah. Did Andrew give you any trouble?” 

“You know I can’t talk about it.” she teased. He laughed in response. 

“Yeah, I know. Off the record though, do you think they’ll choose to talk to you again?” She thought about it for a minute. 

“Andrew definitely. Aaron I think will depend on Andrew.”

“What makes you say that?” Higgins was surprised. He had expected Andrew to be the more difficult one. He usually was.

“Andrew knows he was abused and wants to move past it. He  _ wants  _ to get better. Aaron hasn’t quite accepted that he was abused. I imagine his mother’s death hasn’t helped with that much.” Higgins thought about it, and decided she was right. Andrew had always been more self aware in his suffering. 

“So what has Andrew decided to call you then. I’ve been dying to know.”

“Bee.” She said pleasantly. “He didn’t explain why.”

“He never does.” 

 

“You have terrible taste in girls.” said Andrew as they climbed into the car. 

“Says the person who was staring at Rich Stevens’ arms all through gym.” 

“I never said I wanted to  _ date  _ him though. You, on the other hand, have talked about asking out Beth Waters for  _ months. _ And I keep telling you, she’s not worth the effort.” Higgins struggled to keep a straight face as he watched the boys argue. 

“Speaking of dating. There’s a new woman that just transferred to our department. We’ve been talking a few weeks. Would either of you have any issues with me asking her out?” He pulled the conversation away from their individual dating woes. 

The boys were both silent for a minute, obviously considering it. 

“You really like her?” Andrew finally spoke up.

“Very much so.” They considered for longer. 

“Fine. But we have to meet her.” Aaron said. The  _ so we can see if she’s worthy  _ was implied. Higgins didn’t protest, it was more or less what he had expected from the boys. 

  
  


Anne was nice. She was well trained in at least three different martial arts that Higgins was aware of, but she was nice. And she had figured out how to speak to the boys (who were difficult at the best of times) within a few minutes of walking through the door. 

“Hello. I’m Anne. Nice to meet you!” he heard her greet whichever twin had opened the door this time. They had banned him from answering it, as a part of whatever convoluted hazing process they had planned for her. If he didn’t like her so much, he would never even think of subjecting her to the boys. As it was though, she would probably need to get used to it if she was going to stick around.

“I’m Andrew.” One of the boys said. Higgins couldn’t tell which one without being able to see their body language. 

“Oh a handshake! You must be Aaron. Your dad warned me you might try to switch places.” Higgins thought it was probably safe to go to the door now, since they had already answered it, and saw that it  _ was _ in fact Aaron. That was actually really impressive, as Aaron had even taken the time to hold his ‘fake Andrew’ persona, which no one but Higgins had passed in almost three years. They almost never bothered using the fake personas on new people. Higgins was rather touched at the effort they were going though for him. 

“Anne! Come in. Dinner should be ready in a moment. Aaron, could you find your brother and tell him dinner is ready?” Aaron glared at him for ruining their game, but stomped up the stairs to find Andrew anyway. 

“He seems like a good kid.” She said brightly as he led her to the table.

“Let me know if you still think that at the end of the night.”

 

Higgins had known for years that his boys were talented and smart. He had never thought about the fact that this could translate into them getting an offer for a full ride exy scholarship from Edgar Allen. Which his son had promptly turned down. 

“Why would you do that?” Higgins asked, knowing that Andrew always had a reason, but still baffled at what that reason could possibly be.

“I don't approve of their training methods.”

“I don’t speak fluent Andrew. You’ll have to be more specific.” Andrew hesitated. 

“The tall one, Day, he was acting super jumpy, and flinched whenever the short one went near him.” They both knew what that was likely to mean. Higgins sighed and rubbed his forehead. 

“Andrew…” Kevin Day was an adult. Even if Higgins had proof, there was nothing he could do about the Ravens, or their number two player. 

“I know. I know. Besides. I got a better offer. Palmetto.”

“You know that means nothing to me.” He waited for his sons to explain. Aaron snorted.

“They’re the worst team in the league. And the coach likes to recruit hopeless cases. Not unlike you actually.” Higgins rolled his eyes, but ignored the jab.

“Anyway, at Palmetto we can get Nicky a place on the team.” Andrew continued nonchalantly. He knew that was a bigger deal than either of them were saying. Nicky had been wanting to go to college, but was unable to get into one in Germany, because his grades had been less than stellar when he was depressed in high school. To be able to get him into college, and on a scholarship no less, it would be a miracle for his pseudo nephew.

“Alright. At least tell me they have decent colors?” 

“Orange and White.” Andrew replied with no small amount of glee. Higgins sighed and resigned himself to his fate. 

 

“You boys have everything?” Higgins asked them once again as Andrew loaded the last box into the trunk of the car. He could almost hear Andrew’s eye roll. 

“Yes Pig.”

“I’m not shipping you anything you forgot.” Higgins lied.

“Whatever.” Aaron laughed as he carried Andrew’s furry monster to the car with him. The boys had insisted that the beast didn’t need a cat carrier, but Higgins was sure that even if that did end up being a mistake, they would never tell him about it. 

“Don’t worry. I’ll look after them!” Nicky winked cheekily at him from over the top of the car. He was noticeably better, after having spent the last four years in Germany. So much so that had Higgins met him now, he would never have thought that the boy had been close to suicidal six years before. 

“So Andrew will be mothering everyone as usual then.” Higgins commented. Andrew glared at him, but no one denied the accuracy of the statement. 

He was proud of the boys, they would be moving into their own place, bought with a portion of Tilda’s life insurance money, in Columbia, about a two hour drive from the college. They had considered just staying in the dorms for at least the first year, but the twins had decided that they would probably need time away from the dorms, and other people in general, and having a house in Columbia would give them somewhere to escape to when necessary. 

“You guys ready to go yet?” Nicky complained loudly. The twins glared at him before turning back to Higgins. 

“You guys stay out of trouble, and watch that cousin of yours while you’re at it. That kid is a menace.” Andrew nodded his agreement, while Aaron just smiled. “I love you. You know that right?” he continued. Another smile and another nod. 

“Can I give you a hug?” Aaron looked at Andrew, since he was the one who had the most issues with touch. He nodded once, then stepped in to wrap his arms around Higgins’ waist. Aaron wasn’t far behind. 

“We’re gonna miss you Dad.” If he hadn’t been so close, Higgins would have missed Andrew’s words. 

“I’m gonna miss you too, kiddos. Now go on, you’ve got a long drive ahead of you.” he gently peeled Aaron off so Andrew could escape the embrace. And if he saw Andrew subtly wiping his eyes with his shirt sleeves? Well, no one else had to know. 

  
  



End file.
